Customer Reviews

Live: The Loom's Desire

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Collectively speaking, the world has never done enough good works to deserve having Laura Nyro in it. It's almost as if she knew it too; Vanishing at the height of commercial success, after writhng pop hits for the 5th Dimension ("Wedding Bell Blues"), Streisand ("Stoney End") and Blood, Sweat and Tears ("And When I Die"), she left for her own version of domestic bliss in the suburbs. Still writing songs and recording, wealthy enough to do both on her own terms, she never toured. As if she knew how special and rare she was, she would make a Holiday Gift of herself...and only to a few. Always playing on Dec. 24th, coming to the city like that perfect snow...you remember that night it snowed? Of course you do.

Of course she'd send us a new gift now. Now that times are scary and people are angry. Christmas in Springtime. The Loom's Desire pairs her 1993 and '94 holiday shows at New York's Bottom Line. Occasionally she's joined by a trio of
harmony/backup singers, but mostly it's just Laura and the Piano, weaving her own peculiar magic. "Doing her thing," as she called it. She sings songs she wrote, songs she's "working on" and songs she just loves. She tells us about her cold, and the cracks and skips in her voice become even more endearing. She wishes us a happy holiday, chiding herself for not wishing it sooner. She tells us she loves us. She DOES love us...for some reason.

The world hasn't been good enough, not beautiful enough to deserve Laura Nyro. It probably never will be. Just lucky, I guess

Those of us who've been touched by Laura Nyro's magic will forever miss her. When I'm 80, if my ears still work, I can picture myself sitting in my rocker cranking up "New York Tendaberry." I only got to see her twice: in Normal, Illinois in the 70s; and in Santa Monica, California in the 80s. These two Christmas Eve concerts are magical. The songs are not new, particularly if you've gotten the REQUIRED "Angel in the Dark" CD, but they do give the feel of the inspiration she created through her live concerts. As much as anything, Laura was a working woman, a musician, who shared her craft. On one of the intros she tells of having a cold, "When I stop singing, I start sneezing."

The 1993 concert offers the Phil Spector tune "Oh Yeah, Maybe Baby" that Laura nails soulfully. On "Dedicated to the One I Love," she changes the lyric slightly, "I can be satisfied knowing love's alive." "Wind" was always one of my favorites from "Gonna Take A Miracle," and the lovely background vocals help lift this take to the sky. Laura's singing is full and empassioned on "Light A Flame" & her piano is bright and fluid on "Walk the Dog & Light the Light." "Kiss the sun hello, God & Goddess, make your life a loving thing," is soothingly sung on "To A Child." I find great irony in listening to "And When I Die" on this posthumous release. Laura's "uppity feminist bent" is hilarious on "Japanese Restaurant Song"; and "My Innoncence/Sophia" combine wonderfully. Her marvelous background vocalists send the familiar "Wedding Bell Blues" over the top. I think "Art of Love" is one of her most marvelous, underrated tunes, "S.O.S., Give a message all around the world, let peace shine for the Earth." Laura's lyrical complexity shines on "Emmie," "Emily, you are the natural snow, the unstudied seed."

The 1994 concert (disc 2) offers an early version of "Angel in the Dark," "Come back to me, come back into my prayer." I am "Struck by the poetry" with Laura's beautiful piano on "Gardenia Talk." A very nice take of "Save the Country" includes her intro, "I wrote this song many moons ago." Singing with passionate confidence on "Woman of the World," "Friends & lovers give the sun to each other." Laura introduces "The Descent of the Luna Rose" as "Dedicated to women's monthly cycles of renewal & don't mess with me." It offers some of her witty lyrics, "Baby, don't look at me like Freud, that procreative void will get you thrown out my love." The stark innocence of the Native American tribute "Broken Rainbow" thunders home for the urban homeless as the singer asks, "Do some live out of bags & rags; is it true?" The CD concludes with Nyro's soulful ache on Smokey Robinson's "Ooh Baby Baby," "Mistakes, I know I've made a few, but you've made mistakes too." Laura's passing leaves a procreative void that will not be filled. This live set is a wonderful communion with her joyful spirt. Don't miss it!

Knowing as I do how hard it is to perform live, I find this collection amazing. Singing practically "naked" with nothing but your piano and some voices is a daunting task, Laura accomplishes this with verve, passion and great arrangements that belie the lack of other instrumentation. She could sing... her voice will live with me forever... never stilled.

This 2CD set is a revelation to me. This is Laura Nyro singing with grand piano and a superb vocal choir of three and six voices. What differentiates these 1993 and 1994 concerts from the ones I heard in person in 1990 and 1991 is how Laura's voice actually grew stronger and more assured in the middle and low ranges and she brings full emotion and depth to each of her songs which is reminiscent of her early years.

Laura's voice is best accompanied with grand, acoustic piano, not electric, and she treats us to it here. The clarity of the piano in "My Innocence/Sophia" and her trademark beautiful changes in pace is compelling. You can actually hear this slowing cascade of notes near the beginning of the song, then she grabs the tempo and leaps it forward again. In "Let It Be Me" the deep, resonant notes of the piano rises to meet her voice, slowly, deliberately, in a harmonious choir of sound.

There is a really great rendition of "Blowin' Away" where Laura sings, "My well meaner, my day fancy dreamer", a choir of voices follow, repeating the words a bar behind, then finally meeting and joining Laura's voice. It is actually more enjoyable than her 1st album version, and in way I think Laura had always envisioned it, spare, true, fun, and in great harmony.

Yet, upon hearing this CD twice in one sitting, one is fully aware that they are Laura's last times she will ever sing in New York City. The upper notes in her voice in "Wedding Bell Blues" and "Broken Rainbow" are suggested rather than sung, and the previous, almost wailing power of "Wild World" as heard on her Live from the Bottom Line album is now subdued to an inner, personal, reflection. Laura has also come full circle, with the (Primal Heartbeat Songs of her youth) in "Dedicated to the One I Love" and "Ooh Baby Baby". Laura always gave her soul and her entire voice when she sang these, as though she would transport herself to the bustling New York city streets at night, and we would hear magic. Somehow, everything changes, and the voice becomes powerful and assured, and the rhythms deep and clear.

But to me, the most emotional moment is the song "Emmie". This is the song that Laura sang to close her performances, and the versions she sang changed throughout her ages. From a rocking, burst of youth (Eli) to a long, heartfelt remembrance (Season of Lights), to a deep, personal, memory of life, here.

For those of us who love the words and music of Laura Nyro, she will always be with us.

For those of us, in NYC, in particular, who were initiated into the mysteries of Laura Nyro, and came to pay homage at the Bottom Line, these two CD's recall the most wonderful moments of those and other performances there.
Laura, at the piano, singing her heart out, and the angelic voices in the background...this was the Laura we loved. Thanks to the beautiful production, the intimate feel of those evenings are recreated faithfully.

The Loom's Desire is so rich and beautiful I had to walk away from it several times as it truly overwhelmed me emotionally. This is just heavenly music. Buy it now!!! It deserves 10 stars. Laura, I love you and miss you.

Laura Nyro was known as a bit of a mystery, yet she was one of those performers whose evolution was transparent through her music. This two-CD set is composed of consecutive Christmas eve performances at the Bottom Line in 1993 and 1994. It is at once a holiday album, Laura at her vocal prime, and a mature reminiscence. Compared to the fire of her youth, these performances seem almost mournful (premonition?). It's only towards the middle of 1994 show that she seems to pick up some of the earlier spirit, on Louise's Church, Wedding Bell Blues and Ooh Baby, Baby, in particular. It's also on the 1994 set that the smaller harmony group more often comes to life. Laura seems to have used the backup voices as a surrogate for an orchestra, and I found the vocal arrangements weak and overwhelming on the 1993 set. I think many of her songs would have done better - were made to be sung - without them, most of all Emmie.

I preferred and still prefer Nyro of the '60s and that's why the four stars. Had I listened to it in full before buying, I probably would have passed and stuck with the 1971 Fillmore concert. However, this is a beautifully recorded set - if only Spread Your Wings were as well captured! - and wonderfully intimate. As such, it rounds out a Laura Nyro collection very well.

These are recordings of some of Laura's last concerts.

By this time, the intense brilliance of her initial 20-something period (late 60s-early 70s) was replaced by a mature, deeper, richer artist who, now in her mid-40s, perfected her completely distinctive style as a writer, singer and interpreter of other's material. You now know immediately by the phrasing and unique chord structures that you are listening to Laura Nyro. When she performs her childhood favorites ("Dedicated To The One I Love",
"Ohh Baby Baby", etc) they sound like she wrote them! Her later originals, while again less intense than her material from her early days, has a serene dignity that is remarkable. Her voice is better than ever.

On this set, she performs on a real (not electric) piano with no band, backed by from three to six "harmony singers" (Laura arranged the vocal parts). The recording quality is very good, and the overall listening experience is delicious.

This is highly recommended.

Just Laura & her piano with the harmony group opening & closing each set. The pre-studio versions of Angel In The Dark & Gardenia Talk are different & a real treat. This is a contrast to the other live albums she put out with a band, so listen to it differently. Again it's a very intimate Laura Nyro.

A few word's of sweet caution--you may cry when you listen to "The Loom's Desire," but they will be tears of joy. Laura Nyro has been gone for five years;let us not grieve over what God has taken away, but rather rejoice in what God gave us in her presence on earth. The music, the passion--it's all here!
Amen.